Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-10-27
PTBLIC OPINION md COURTS.

PUBLIC OPINION IND COURTS.
We submit all cases in which points Of
law and fac, are involved tO the courts, and
the decision of the highest court puts all
questions at rest. The courts must decide,
as We have said. according to law and to
act is shown TO have been the result OF
malice. and premeditateSl. he is decided to
lie a murderer. jay Gould may be thought
10 be a wholesale robber and the directors
of the Standard Oil company bloated mo
nop0lsts and plunderers, yet II All axgrieved
man should shoot either Of these men. pur-
poSely and with the design of killing him.
he would I've adjudged a murderer. Ii
might be that this man had been stripped
ot his possessions by the man who was shot
and left pauper: still he would be ad-
judged murderer. not only by the laws of
the land. but by the unwritteh law of Pub
lie Opinion. which is higher than all legal
tribunals because il creates and maintains
them. and this at the same time that Public
Opinion would hold the victim morally
guilty ~ robbery and plunder.
PubIic Opinion selects the Judges that
constitute cOdrts and IT sustalns and main
tains them in the impartial and judicial
consideration Of tho facts and points of
law involved in the trial of each defendant.
Phil. Armour was not on trial before the
court at Chicago, hut only stood and now
a. ~ ba h.r Of D,,bl Api,
sn policemen were killed and sixty-five
wounded in the Hsymarket tragedy at Chi
cago. and eight men were convicted Of the
killing one being sent to the penitentiary.
and the Others sentenced TO he hanged on
Nov ember llth. The court had nothing to
do with the question whether these men or
anybody else had grievances against cap
italists. or If they had. whether they were
well-founded. but whether tn. acts which
they were proved to have committed were
deliberately done and with a malicious.
murderous purpose. If capitalists do wrong
they must be arrested and tried for their
crimes or misdemeanOrs. No aggrieved
person, anywhere. is justified in anticipat-
ing the action of courts and bestowing pun
ishment on his own account. II Mr.. Ar
mour had shot Spies or Parsons. he would
have been arrested and tried. and il found
guilty Of deliberate murder. he would have
in a Pennsylvania prison. who was con-
victed of manslaughtsr. committed in
dispute with laborers and all efforts to pro-
cure his liberation have. so far, proved
futile.
Public Opinion says that manslayers must
bs arrested and arraigned. and that courts
must acquit or convict them according To
the evidence. as TO intention or malice
shown. and that their verdict must stand
In this consists the safety of society. Pub
lie Opinion goes further. II not only con-
stitutes courts but il holds judges esponsibie
for the faithful discharge Of their duties.
The unfaithful judge cannot hold his seat |
in an honest community. Boodiers on the
bench are hurled from the high positions Of
which they prove themselves TO he un-
worthy. and il is seldom the case that
really bad Judge is reelected or rre-appointed
except in locality where a majority of the
people are corrupt or crazy with partisan
zeal. and there are. happily. but few COM
munities of this sort in America.
No doubt there was pressure OF local |
Public Opinion on the court at Chicago, but
il was only to the extent that actual crime |
should be punished: there was surely no |
local pressure applied 10 the Illinois supreme |
court when il took the cases Of the all |
srchiSts in hand: certainly there is none a,
today. Public Opinion is the
average sentiment of the controlling ele- |
Inent in society. II is not bood-th thirsty. 1t |
does not lack humane feeling. II
has mora! principle but it has
the protection of all citizens from unlawful
violence and it demands the protection of
their property: it demands the enforcement
Of the provisions of law. AT the same time
il pitie, the Innocent wives and children of |
tine condemned. But when wives prove by
their utterances and conduct that they SYM
pathize not alone with their husbands as
but approve Of their crimes.
they dissipate public sympathy.
We do not personally Ln0,r whether the
were lawfully convicted. No
body here is in position 10 say that they
were not. No one not on the bench. who i,
lnpOssessed of a trained legal mind. and
who is not familiar with the details of the
evidence as well as of its drift or general
rend. can pretend to decide. one way or
he other: and all good and reasonable citi-
lens must accept the final result. whether
or unfavOrable 10 the anarchists.
If the supreme court today decides that the
anarchists have not had fair trial and
should have another chance. the public will
accept the decision: il it decides that the
sentence may be justly executed. the people
II the country will! say amen. OR if the
natter is left to Governor Oglesby. and he
lecides 10 commute certain sentences or
,one il must be borne in mind tina. he has
duty given him by law. ac-
,ording to his own judgment and conscience
at the law take its course-whateyer the
,esult. So every good citizen shOui1 say.
At the annual meeting of the American
association at Portland, Maine.
m Wednesday. the senior secretary. Rev.
+. Strictly. ID. d.. spoke on The
of Man, or the Three Brothers
Who Settled in America" We quote from
IS ~ |